For her new album "Stealing Moments" (01.03.24), Viktoria Tolstoy has taken up the idea of "family music-making" again: This is because the compositions come from a whole host of current ACT artists, many of whom were also involved in her label debut "Shining on You". Esbjörn Svensson is also involved in a special way: He wrote the instrumental composition "Hands Off", for which his wife Eva has now penned lyrics. In addition, there are songs written especially for Viktoria Tolstoy and her voice by long-time friends and companions such as Nils Landgren, Ida Sand, Wolfgang Haffner, Cæcilie Norby, Lars Danielsson, Iiro Rantala and Jan Lundgren.
"When you sing, the sun rises," Pat Metheny once said to Viktoria Tolstoy. Her clear, powerfully radiant voice is the common thread that connects all the pieces on "Stealing Moments". In addition, there is a mixture of energy and lightness that defines Viktoria Tolstoy as a person and that is transferred to the listener through the music. Her message to the audience, based on the album title: "Let me steal a little time from you to listen to this music."
Swedish singer Viktoria Tolstoy's family has a strong connection to art. Her great-great-grandfather was the legendary Russian national poet Leo Tolstoy. The very young Viktoria already made her way through Stockholm's jazz clubs and played with leading Swedish jazz musicians such as Svante Thuresson. In 1994, at the age of 20, she recorded her first album. Two years later, with the album 'För Älskad', she became an overnight pop star in her home country. This paved the way for her collaboration with Esbjörn Svensson and e.s.t.: he produced and wrote the songs for 'White Russian', the first Scandinavian record to be released on the legendary Blue Note label. Nils 'Mr. Red Horn' Landgren also produced and played with her. Since then, Tolstoy has established herself as one of the leading voices in contemporary jazz.